A number of alert readers have called our attention to real or supposed errors in our captions for the trolley-car post cards that appeared in the February, 1973, issue. Mr. Benjamin R. Jordan of California tells us that in our picture on page 32 we have “placed the Rubio Canyon in Griffith Park instead of its proper location on the north slope of the San Gabriel Valley, a slip of some eleven miles as the crow flies, and a little farther by street car.” Mr. Jordan, however, graciously provides us with a couple of excuses: “Los Angeles’ several earthquakes could have brought the two locations together and replaced them again. Besides, with the ever-present smog permeating the area, I don’t think that anyone is really sure just where the two places are in relation to each other anyway. ” We came out better on a complaint by Mr. D. Douglas of San Francisco, who wrote “in sorrow more than anger” to urge us to fire the caption writer who identified the street railway on the back cover as a trolley rather than a cable car. The lack of overhead wires does indeed suggest a cable car, and in fact the lines on Pennsylvania Avenue were originally powered by moving cables. But by the early years of this century, when the picture was taken, the city had shifted over to electric power. So those are trolleys in the picture, fizzing along by the grace of an electric shoe held against the underground wires. Finally, we would like to apologize for omitting El Paso’s international car line to Juarez, Mexico, from our list of working electric trolleys in America. At the time the issue went to press, the line was out of service while repairs were being made. Happily, it’s now running again, and travellers can ride over the border and back on the only international streetcar line in North America.
Trusted Writing on History, Travel, and American Culture Since 1949
On The Wrong Track
Featured Articles
Famous writers including Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and the Alcotts turned Sleepy Hollow Cemetery into our country’s first conservation project.
Native American peoples and the lands they possessed loomed large for Washington, from his first trips westward as a surveyor to his years as President.
In his Second Inaugural Address, Abraham Lincoln embodied leading in a time of polarization, political disagreement, and differing understandings of reality.
A hundred years ago, America was rocked by riots, repression, and racial violence.
During Pres. Washington’s first term, an epidemic killed one tenth of all the inhabitants of Philadelphia, then the capital of the young United States.
Now a popular state park, the unassuming geological feature along the Illinois River has served as the site of centuries of human habitation and discovery.
The recent discovery of the hull of the battleship Nevada recalls her dramatic action at Pearl Harbor and ultimate revenge on D-Day as the first ship to fire on the Nazis.
Our research reveals that 19 artworks in the U.S. Capitol honor men who were Confederate officers or officials. What many of them said, and did, is truly despicable.
Here is probably the most wide-ranging look at Presidential misbehavior ever published in a magazine.
When Germany unleashed its blitzkreig in 1939, the U.S. Army was only the 17th largest in the world. FDR and Marshall had to build a fighting force able to take on the Nazis, against the wishes of many in Congress.
Roast pig, boiled rockfish, and apple pie were among the dishes George and Martha enjoyed during the holiday in 1797. Here are some actual recipes.
Born during Jim Crow, Belle da Costa Greene perfected the art of "passing" while working for one of the most powerful men in America.